Safety cable system fob electric railways



No. 623,|3s.' Patentd Apr. 18,1899. H. B. cox.

SAFETY (SABLEv SYSTEM FDR ELEGTBIG4 RAILWAYS.

(Application med Een. 12, 189s.)

(No Model.)

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lhairnn STATES 'PATENT Crricn.

HARRY BARRINGER COX, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

SAFETY CABLE SYSTEM FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 623,136, dated April 18, 1899.

' appiimaon flied ramry 12,1898. serai No. 070,010. ci@ model.)

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V3e it known that I, HARRY BARRiNGER Cox, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of New York,in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Safety Cable System for Electric Railways, of which the following is a speciiication.

rlhis invention relates to electric railways, and particularly to those belonging to what is styled the third-rail7 system.

It also relates to that class of electric railways in which the power-current is taken from successively-energized contacts or insulated sections of conductors located along the line of way.

The object of the invention is to produce a railway on the plan of the third-rail system which shall combine all the elements of safety found in the sectional-conductor systems and which shall still be simple and economical in construction and certain in its operation.

To this end the invention consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents the system by a longitudinal section through the third rail and a diagram of the circuits and parts carried by a car. Fig. 2 .represents the same in plan and diagram. Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the track and third rail.

In the drawings, A indicates the ties or sleepers, and B B/ the track-rails. Upon the ties, preferably between the rails, (though it may be located outside of either rail,) is the third rail, which preferably consists of a wooden Stringer C, grooved along its upper surface and provided with a metallic cap divided into sections E, which are insulated from one another at their ends, as indicated.

In the stringer C, made of wood or otherinsulating material, lies a flexible magnetizable main conductor tape or cable D, directly connected with the source of motive power, (represented at F.) The return connection to said generator is through the rails of the car or through other connections, as well understood in the art. The flexible conductor forms the main` conductor and vextends continuously through the conduit to any desired distance and underlies a large number vof sections E. The conduit protects and insulares said conductor.

I am aware that it has been before proposed to use an auxiliary conductor upon which the main conductor rests and from which itreceives current and also to use a number of sections of conduit or Stringer divided od from one another and each containinga short length of flexible conductor no longer than the insulated section of cap-piece belonging to said section of conduit. In my invention I ilse as the iieXible conductor the main conductor directly connected with the generator and extend the same beneath a number of sections of cover, the only ones of which that are alive at any time being those with which the flexible conductor is for the timebeing in contact.

The car-motor is indicated at H, the current therefrom being taken from the third rail by any suitable form of collector over the conductor I, in which may be located the usual.controlling-switch, (represented at J.) Current is transmitted to the caps E of the third rail by means of the flexible conductor D, which though normally resting in the bottom of the conduit or groove of said rail is attracted to said cap by means of a magnet carried on the car. This magnet may be of the permanent sort or may be and is preferably an electromagnet and may be a combination of both. It is here represented of the horseshoe form, whose core K is in the plane of the third rail and has at its extremities, as pole-pieces of the magnet, rollers or wheels L. The coils M of the magnet are represented as in a shunt to the motor-circuit, .and the cir-.

cuit over this shunt is controllable by any suitable switch, of which vthat shown at N is simply typical. The pole-pieces of the magnets may be used as current-collectors and are here shown as connected to the motor-y.y

circuit by conductor O. In addition to these pole-pieces any other form of collector may be employed, as indicated by the brush P, to which the motor-circuit is also shown connected, the shunt for the magnet being taken off at the point Q.

In Fig. 2 there is indicated at R a pair of wheels belonging to the car which carries the IOO magnetsand the motorHbywhichitis driven, and to the axle 'of these Wheels the motor-circuitispreferablyled and current transmitted to the rail-return, which is here represented as the rail B.

If desired, the Wheels L may be omitted from the pole-pieces of the magnet and the pole-pieces projected in close proximity to the cap, and the cap while preferably of soft iron may be constructed of brass, copper, aluminium, or other suitable metal.

W'hile it is preferable to make the Stringer C from Wood, the invention is not limited to this material, since said Stringer may be constructed from any suitable material so long as the cap and flexible conductor are thoroughly insulated therefrom and from the ground.

By dividing the cap into sections, say, of halt' the length of a car it is possible to keep all port-ions of the third rail dead, save those immediately under the car. In this manner it will be possible to use the third-rail system with perfect safety in any locality. 'lhere will be a slightlongitudinal movement of the flexible conductor against the cap E as successive portions thereof are raised against the cap in the travel of the magnet over the track. This movement serves to keep bright the contact-surfaces between the conductor and cap, which is conducive to the proper transmission of current.

It desirable, the poles of the magnet K may be somewhat separated, so as to keep a considerable portion of the iexible conductor in contact with the cap, oran additional electromagnet may be placed in the shunt with the one shown and located at an equal distance therefrom upon the same car or in the case of a train upon a subsequent car.

Many changes other than those above referred to may be made in the combination and arrangement of parts Without departing rent may be placed upon the cars to provide for energizing the magnets M. Such battery is indicated at S in Fig. l.

The invention claimed is l. In an electric-railway system, the combination of a continuous conduit formed of nonconducting and non-magnetizable material and capped by insulated conducting-sections, and a continuous live magnetizable conductor loosely and movably located within the groove or passage of the conduit and in direct connection with a generator so that a magnet may move said conductor into electrical contact with said conducting-sections, substantially as described.-

2. In an electric railway, the combination of an insulated conduit having insulated conducting-sections, a continuous magnetizable vbare line conductor resting loosely in said conduit normally out of contact with said conducting-sections and movable laterally and longitudinally, a magnet for moving said loose line conductor into contact with said conducting-sections, and contact devices for taking oi the power-current from said conducting-sections, substantially as described.

3. In an electric-railway system, the combination with an insulated grooved conduit having insulated conducting-sections, of a continuous live conducting -wire loosely and movably arranged in said conduit and without mechanical connections which would prevent free movement of the same, substantially as described.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 11th day of February, A. D. 1898.

H. BARRINGER COX. lVitnesses:

WM. H. CAPEL, DELBERT H. DECKER. 

